Tyson Beats on Earnings, Talks Swine Flu Outbreak

Tyson Foods posted strong quarterly earnings

Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) is trading up 5.9% this morning at $84.43, thanks to a quarterly earnings beat. The meat supplier also said it received a subpoena from the Department of Justice to provide documents and information on the chicken industry, and that it's complying with the requests. Traders are also anxious to learn how the swine flu fever outbreak in China is effecting Tyson, as many analysts expected it to be a boon for the stock, but executives suggested tailwinds may not be seen until next year. They added that the company is in discussions with meat buyers in China.

Today's pop in the share price could be bad news for options traders, who were picking up puts at an accelerated pace during the past two weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). The security has a 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.80, which ranks in the 99th annual percentile, showing a near annual extreme in put buying compared to call buying. At the same time, a closer look at the most popular options during that time shows heavy interest in a number of options that expired before this week, so maybe these bears got out just in time.

Today's post-earnings move is much bigger than the usual earnings reaction the shares have experienced in the past two years, averaging a swing of 2.7% during that time. TSN does have a history of making moves bigger than the options market was pricing in, based on the Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 70, out of a possible 100.

Not only does today's price action have the security at record highs, so far trading as high as $85.43, but it may be more important that it has the shares pushing north out of a recent area of congestion in the $75-$83 range. Overall, Tyson Foods stock has added over 59% in 2019.